By Maisie French

Maisie French is a young sportsperson with a passion for dance, swimming, athletics and volleyball but when she ignored the signs of a sore back it quickly became a debilitating and extremely painful problem that impacted her daily life. Maisie explains how seeing a physiotherapist helped her to understand her body and gave her the tools needed to stay pain free. 

Back pain is one of the worst kinds of pain (in my opinion).

It hurts to sit. It hurts to stand. It hurts to walk, run and dance. It hurts to sleep. It hurts to leap. It hurts to do pretty much anything when you have back pain.

Which is why it is extremely vital you visit the physio. Miserable movements can soon turn into magical ones!

Why I developed back pain:

Put quite simply… lack of flexibility.

I’ve never been very flexible, but I have always been very sport orientated. From dance to swimming following on to athletics and volleyball; sport has always been a passion of mine. When I started training, playing, and competing in volleyball constantly throughout my weeks, I slowly started to develop a niggling back which very quickly turned into severe back pain when moving. I knew I wasn’t as flexible as I should’ve been, but I naively did nothing about it.

Why flexibility is key for myself:

Lack of flexibility in the back creates muscular imbalance due to the inflexible muscles being tight and short. This can decrease range of movement and in my case, lead to improper movement, all of which can eventually lead to injury. A poor posture can cause the muscle imbalance and it makes it so much more difficult to get back to my best performance. Being quite tall often makes me want to slouch, but I know better now.

My physio journey:

Having a physiotherapist as team mate has taken a bit the fear away of doing something new. But actually there is no reason to wait in pain when going to a professional will help you get back on court safely and with better performance.

Here what happened when I saw Angela:

• Assessment to figure out what was actually wrong. She asked me so many questions but they all made sense. It felt a bit like being in a detective story and Angela being the inspector trying to find the (cause of) the bad back.
• Given stretches and exercises to complete at home to hopefully see improvement. I also received the exercises as video clips on an app, and this helped me to keep up with them.
• Follow up appointment to see progress and continue with exercises which were becoming more and more similar to the movements that I have to do to properly hit or dig a ball in volleyball. So I knew that they were the right exercises for me.

So I actually learned a lot about myself, my body and how to avoid further injuries. I am looking forward to start my new training season with the university team, and I also know that if I will have injure myself again I won’t wait before seeking help from Angela. I know that I will be back to my sport faster and better.

Published on: 16th August 2023

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